


Sunny Forecasts ~ by Beth C.

by AngelBookofDaysModerator



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Angel Book of Days Challenge, Canon Relationship, Gen, Snow and Ice, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-02-22
Updated: 2004-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-31 15:13:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelBookofDaysModerator/pseuds/AngelBookofDaysModerator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written by Beth C. Posted on the author's behalf by the Angel Book of Days Moderator.</p><p>Wes and Harmony muse on people and seasons that are out of reach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunny Forecasts ~ by Beth C.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justhuman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justhuman/gifts).



_**Today will be 75 degrees and sunny.**_

It is a horrible way to start the morning.

It has always been his least favorite part of the day, and although it didn’t seem possible, this makes it worse.

Everyday in LA starts out the same for him, with the weatherman on Channel 7 grinning with a perfect smile that can only be produced by a perfect set of venires, and a toupee that he probably bought from a salesman that told him no one would ever know the difference. He grins on the TV screen at tired, weary people attempting to prepare themselves for a day at work, and brags to them about the gorgeous day they will be viewing through their office windows. 

Lorne has explained repeatedly that the weatherman isn’t a demon, just a nice guy that worked his way up from a local show in Omaha to a cushy job in LA. But when he grins so perfectly that early in the morning, Wes can only wonder if he is secretly in hell, and no one has told him. There is something so cruel about what that man does every morning with pure joy in his voice.

Maybe he likes the weather, maybe he just likes torturing the residents of the city.

He is only doing his job though, forecasting what becomes a pattern of stunning days with a variety of smog warnings. Wes understands why Giles always seemed happier when it rained, because any day that broke up the monotony of repetitive gorgeous days and remind them of home was a special day.

It gets harder when the winter comes according to the calendar, but not according to nature. As Wes walks down the street to the office in short sleeves past women who have broken out winter jackets because that’s the new collection in the stores, he can only wish for snow. For sleet and gray days to remind him of the season, for blowing wind and frigid temperatures to shock him back into reality.

The worst part of the day sometimes is walking from the perfect outside conditions into the perfectly controlled inside of the office buildings. Every room is a perfect 73.5 degrees in the offices of Wolfram and Hart except for the room holding the psychic worms from the Quorth dimension, because they don’t function in any temperature under 130 degrees.

The whole office building is controlled so perfectly without any temperature difference from floor to floor and without any ingredient from the outside seeping in. Angel claims that it’s because of a fear of a virus that could be sent through the heating ducts, and that keeping things perfect at a temperature that won’t allow for the organism to breed. 

But Wesley knows that it is because Fred had done a study of the temperature that caused the most productivity in workers, and the law firm has been spending too much money ever since they took over. If the workers are more productive, Angel will be making more money.

Things used to be so different. 

The calendar says that it is January, but the weather keeps telling him differently.

_**Look out for another gorgeous day, but with the temperatures dipping as low as 60 degrees, you will want to remember your jacket.**_

No one thinks they would miss winter weather, but Wesley misses everything about winter. Wesley misses sleet beating down on his bare neck, and he misses those days where the city shuts down over the snow. He never saw many of those, mainly on days visiting in the states, but there was nothing so amazing about the empty streets, and the way icicles hung off of street lights. No one ever seems to realize how alive the winter is. The plants and animals might fall asleep, but other things come to life like the wind, the clouds, and the air that seems to become full of sensations from the burning of the cold, to the tingle it gives right before snow falls.

Wesley knows incantations to remove warts from feet, and hair from places where you don’t want it, but he doesn’t know any to remove the memories of snow. It seems impossible to do, with every snowflake etched in his memory, the way they looked on the wool of his mittens.

Lilah once told him that being compared to a tempest is nice, but being compared to a blizzard is even better. A blizzard is just as angry and just as strong, but a blizzard sneaks up on people, slowly accumulating and taking over. A blizzard causes an impact long after it has gone away, and people all over the area talk about it for years to follow.

"At the same time," she said softly, leaning into his chest, "the snow is so beautiful to the point that the ground is willing to give itself over. It yields to the snow immediately, because there is nothing as stunning as it."

She was the winter to him. 

Now Harmony’s hair teases from across the office, against pale skin in shimmers like the sun he can’t escape. He doesn’t want the sun anymore, he wants the pale expanse of Lilah’s skin.

He can picture what should have happened to his winter sometimes. She listened to him when he said to run away, and she ran to a little town on the east coast. Lilah would never have needed the money, but she would work to keep herself busy. She would walk home at night, through snow filtered by the street lights. At night, she would return to her little apartment, shake the snow flakes off of her hat, and watch the world outside. But even while the boring life Wesley planned out in his head for her doesn’t truly suit her, death suits her even less.

She is not even truly dead, she’s somewhere in hell, where it’s always warm and even thought she thinks she deserves it, no one deserves it.

Everything is running together, and he can no longer remember if he hates the weather in LA just because of the lack of snow, or because she is not with him to complain about it.

_**It’s January 15th and we’re experiencing that chilly LA weather. Get ready for temperatures in the low 60s for most of the day with partly cloudy skies.**_

She misses being warm.

She misses sweaty palms, rosy cheeks, and sweating. She misses all of those things she would have cursed in high school, but would give anything to get back for just one day. 

Sometimes when she cries, she can imagine tears running down her face, leaving icy tracks over her cheeks. People don’t touch her very often, but she wonders if she is as cold to touch as she feels.

The rest of the country was experiencing natural weather, and LA was experiencing a winter as fake as the city itself. No clouds, no wind, just a perfect sunset and equally perfect temperatures. 

Vampires aren’t supposed to suffer from depression, and people in LA, who are surrounded by sun and warmth aren’t supposed to be so affected by the change of the seasons, but she couldn’t help being sad. 

She missed the feeling of the real sun on her cheeks, getting a tan, and needing to buy pairs of sunglasses.

California wasn’t always her home, her family moved from Connecticut when she was eight years old. Her first day of school, Cordelia saw her from across the lunch room and invited her to sit with them because she was wearing high heels, and no one else in second grade was allowed to wear them.

She missed sledding sometimes and she missed snow days, but she had gained so much more. She gained warm beaches to lie on, and winters where the temperature barely dipped below 50. 

In California she fit in and she always felt warm.

But she doesn’t have the sun anymore, and she doesn’t have the snow either.

It seemed selfish to her, but if she is forced to always be cold, shouldn’t the rest of the city also?

Her life has become a continuous winter, lifeless, cold, and lonely. Even her hair which will stay forever sunshine blonde seems cold against her back.

Spike used to make her feel warm, but most of the time he made her feel even colder then before. She could feel his weight upon her, skin just as cold, yet she felt so full and so warm with everything she has lost. But then he would finish and she would just lie alone in their bed, wondering what it was like to lie beside someone who really wanted her there.

Now she is always alone and she is always cold with permanent goose bumps all over her skin.

She wants the warmth, but she also wants the winter.

It would be easier for the outside to reflect everything she felt on the inside. 

Plus, it would be nice to buy one of the new Marc Jacobs jackets and have a real reason to wear it.

_**I hate to break it to you folks, but you will have to deal with another gorgeous day with perfect sunshine.**_

She poked her head into "Do you need anything before I leave Wes?" 

"I think I am okay Harmony," he answers back, not looking up from the book, "you are free to go home."

It hurts her to remember days when that would have been exciting to hear because she would have had places to go. It is hard to realize that work is the only thing you really have.

"Do you mind if I sit for a little while?" She asked, as she moved into the office, and flopped down on the couch.

He still kept his gaze downward, "Do whatever you want Harmony, just keep quiet."

"How was your day today?" She asked cheerily, "Angel was angry at me all day because I forgot to warn him when I transferred a call in from some head demon guy that he was avoiding, and then I accidentally warmed his blood too long and he burned his tongue."

Wes groaned, "Harmony, not to sound rude, but what are you doing here? You have girlfriends to listen to you go on and on about this."

"How do you deal with this?" she asked, hoping he would look at her, "I thought you would be the person to ask."

He pulled off his glasses, and leaned back in his chair, finally looking her in the eye. "How do I deal with what exactly Harmony?"

"Being alone, and knowing that you are cute and special, and yet still being all alone," she pulled her purse close to her chest, "I’m a nice person to know, and I’m just always alone."

"I don’t think most people know that I am alone," Wes sighed, "I have just lost so many people along the way that I have ended up alone."

Harmony moved to the chair across from him, "I would miss her too, Miss Morgan was special."

He gazed at her surprised, "You knew Lilah?"

"Of course I knew Lilah, she was one of the reasons I found my way here," she recounted, "I was at one of those nighttime demon designer trunk sales and I saw her there, a bitch bigger then Cordelia and even better looking in stilettos. She invited me to apply as a secretary here."

"I never realized that, everyone I knew hated her," he frowned.

"Everyone you know has more issues then the total run of Cosmo," Harmony groaned, "For example, all of Angel’s women he has loved, have been able to and enjoyed kicking his ass. I don’t think any of them are a good judge of character."

Wes just chuckled, "I guess I never thought of it like that."

"You should think of it like that," Harmony continued, "Lilah was an amazing woman, and being evil should never make you write someone off completely."

He paused for a moment, "I don’t know though." 

"You don’t know what?" She asked confused.

"The answer to you question, how do I deal with being alone," Wesley frowned, "I don’t really know if I do deal with it or if I’m just really good at repressing how I feel." 

"Do you know anyone in LA

"Besides the people here, not really," "I just always think wouldn’t it be nice to just look out the window and see snow

"It doesn’t feel like winter without it. I loved having sun in the winter but sometimes I miss getting that one big blizzard."

"You are one of the only people that say that. Most people just thank god never to see a flake of snow."

"Well, I’m one of the smartest people here" Harmony said without any sarcasm in her voice, "I wish other people would start realizing it."

Wes just laughed, "I guess we should."

"Damn straight you should, just because someone is blonde and sort of perky doesn’t mean they are clueless to the world around them." She looked down at her watch, "Oh well, I guess I can go home, heat up some blood, and watch Newlyweds."

"Goodbye Harmony," Wes smiled sadly, looking back down at his book.

_**I don’t really know what to say. There’s snow. It’s not supposed to be snowing. But it’s snowing.**_

Suddenly every person who bought a Hummer had an actual use for it, tearing down the streets as fast as then can. But most people looked at the foot of snow accumulating outside their window and decided to call in sick. 

Wesley walked to work, mesmerized by the footprints left on the sidewalk and the way the snow filled them in almost right after he made them. The sun was still shining, but for once, there was a need to actually break out his old parka.

Wolfram and Hart was quiet, with most employees taking their sick days or just staring out on to the snow falling all over the city.

"The science department says that it is actually snow," one security guard said, the relief evident in his voice, "I was really worried the aliens had decided to take over and they were starting with LA."

"I had heard it was an evil mold that would turn you into a zombie," another said back with a slight smile, "But I figured if it was, the scientists upstairs probably made it and we’d get given an antidote."

"I wonder if Angel will let us go home early," the first sighed loudly, "The kids want me to help them make a snowman."

"I hope he doesn’t," the other laughed, "the wife wants me to come home and shovel the driveway."

Wes continued up to his office where he saw it, a banner stretched across his office exclaiming, "Happy Wes Day!" with little unicorns dancing around it and Harmony standing in front of it grinning.

"What is this Harmony?" He laughed, walking towards his desk, and the plate of snowman cookies she had placed there.

"Happy Wes Day!" She jumped up excitedly, "It’s your special day, you got your snow."

He sat down in his chair, "I guess someone is looking out for me."

"You know you aren’t alone Wes, you do have people that care about you," Harmony smiled, placing his cup of tea in front of him, "We happen to have one friend in common living in hell who called in a favor from a particular weather god because she cared about you."

Wesley just smiled back, "Well, I’m happy to have at least one person caring about me that isn’t currently residing in hell."

Harmony started slowly out of the office, stopping in the doorway, "Also if this wasn’t enough winter for you, there is always the Wolfram and Hart chateau in Sun Valley."

Wes just smiled. Lilah was right, working for evil does have a few perks. 

Great health care, an amazing dry cleaner, and instant access to winter were just a few of them.

She just never mentioned that every once awhile, those people you would be working with would show you that evil isn’t so cut and dry.

Lilah had proved that to him, but Harmony was reminding him of that every day.

Wes picked up his phone and dialed Angel’s extension.

"Angel, it is a special day in the city, maybe you should let everyone go home a little early today."

"Wes I don’t-," Angel started getting ready to turn him away.

Wes cut him off, "Angel, one day won’t kill the budget, just take it out of their days off for Apocalypse."

"Fine Wes," Angel sighed, "Everyone can go play in the snow on my dollar today."

Wes chuckled, "Now do you know anywhere I can find a sleigh in this town."

_**The city is still recovering from yesterday’s snow showers that are being blamed on a freak wind pattern, but today’s temperatures which will sit in the mid-70s will help to melt the snow.**_

Everything seemed to be going back to normal, except Harmony was smiling a lot more, and Wes’s department was sending more documents down to the department in Hell.

The morning after Wes did something he never thought he would be able to do.

He watched the weather report without wanting to kill the weatherman.

It seemed okay for the rest of the winter to go by sunny and beautiful.

A little bit of snow goes a long way.

Plus he knew one of these days he would get his response from the hell branch of Wolfram and Hart.

Then a special messenger would have to bring it up to the surface, and he would have his personal winter back in his life.

Harmony had her own reason to smile when she arrived at her desk the next morning.

"A space heater, and a cashmere sweater," the note said, "just making sure everyone is comfortable and warm at work. Thank you, Wesley."

Maybe she wouldn’t be so cold anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Justhuman in the Angel Book of Days Winter Challenge. Prompt: Wesley; Genre ~ not romance - the rest is up to you ~Harmony ~ No Wes/Fred and No Harmony/Spike (brief mentions of past relationships and angst okay)
> 
> Author's notes ~ 3000 words were way harder for me then they should be :)


End file.
